It's been a year of sadness and of pending change for Winchester's Trinity Centre.

Its forthcoming move from St Paul's Hill to Durngate represented the challenge ahead, the AGM was told.

The sadness, said vice-chairman, Charles Taylor, was the fact that the last 12 months had seen the deaths of nine people known to the drop-in centre.

"Our staff have to face all kinds of circumstances, including the fact that someone can be here today and gone tomorrow," he added. "They have to deal with the kind of trauma that comes when friends are lost."

The meeting was told that the majority of such deaths were the result of drug overdoses.

Over the coming year, Trinity bosses would be submitting planning applications for the redevelopment of the sites at both St Paul's Hill, where they hoped to create affordable housing, and Durngate Place, where the new centre would have to be built from scratch.

It would be a £1.5m project, the value of the redevelopment leaving a balance of £500,000 to be raised. The architects had been chosen to design a new building which would reflect its ethos by providing a safe and welcoming environment.

Finance director, Neville Semple, said they would be investigating possible sources of funding.